"We are seeing dramatic changes, says David Reich, a population geneticist at Harvard Medical School in Boston, Massachusetts, who co-led the 15 April Nature study. However, some researchers remain unconvinced by the scale of the findings and results that show natural selection has affected gene variants underlying highly complex traits, such as mental illness and cognition."
"Humans clearly adapted to these upheavals. But genomic studies of present-day and ancient people have uncovered only a smattering of genetic signs of natural selection, particularly for advantageous genes that have surged to high frequency, or ones that have proved to be harmful and become less common."
"To supercharge the search, Reich, Ali Akbari, a computational geneticist at Harvard Medical School, and their colleagues amassed the largest-ever collection of genomic data from ancient humans - a total of 15,836 individuals from western Eurasia - including more than 10,000 newly sequenced genomes."
The largest study of ancient human DNA reveals accelerated human evolution over the last 10,000 years. Researchers found numerous gene variants that evolved through natural selection in ancient populations from western Eurasia following the advent of agriculture. These genetic changes have significant implications for the health of modern populations. While some researchers question the extent of these findings, the study highlights the impact of agriculture on human adaptation, including notable examples like lactose tolerance in certain populations.
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